governor romney in springfield, mr. obama in virginia beach. it is the third time in a week they are both hitting the same stage. shane deapril is the editor of campaigns and elections magazine. democrats are pretty confident about virginia this time. should they be, shane? >> we've seen some dueling polls out of virginia. there are some that show the president with a clear lead. some show the contest quite a bit tighter. but i think what you're seeing with amount of time both campaigns are spending in virginia it is such a key state when it comes to the electoral college calculation for both campaigns. essentially in my sort of electoral college predictor i have president obama at 237 electoral votes right now. so that means the three really big swing states, ohio, virginia, and florida, they could be really killers for mitt romney if he can't find a way to wrestle two of those away from president obama. if the president manages to get florida and virginia in his column, he is over the top of 270 electoral votes. if he manages to get virginia